Excellent


Check the choke cable is as straight as possible, a kink in it can cause that little issue.

A rather amusing trait of the newly restored 2cv is its ability to attract women. Yep, for those of you who have just sprayed coffee over your monitor while reading that sentence let me add that they are ladies of 'a certain age'.

On Saturday, which was our first outing in the car I pulled up outside a local convenience store whereupon a woman of around 60, driving a Peugot 206 quickly pulled up beside me. Her face was beaming, as she excitedly jumped from her car and approached me.

"We used to have one of these!" said the lady in question.

"When we finally sold it I cried, and our two daughters never forgave us." she added.

What took me most by surprise was the sheer enthusiasm eminating from this woman, as she spoke she allowed one hand to caress and stroke the rear pillar quite gently, as you would a favourite pet. Her face was lit up with the type of joy one sees when once more meeting an old friend, she smiled broadly, while displaying a deep and genuine affection.

The second incident of this nature happened the following morning in the supermarket car park. As I drove into the parking spot I was aware of someone stood several yards away, a slim blonde woman was seemingly captivated. As I got out and walked toward her I noted that despite my initial impression based on her jeans and T-shirt slim figure, she was actually around 50 years of age.

"I'm sorry for staring" she said as I closed, "But I used to have one of those, a red one... I still remember the cute little wipers, and those funny side windows that hinge upwards."

Again here was a woman caught with genuine emotion for a car that had at the time been merely an inexpensive form of transport, judging from the glee on her face it appears that the 2cv leaves a lasting (and favourable) impression on many former owners.



I found the above image on ebay.Fr. It is advertised as an original watercolour painting but looks suspiciously like a photoshopped and printed photograph to me. I was however, struck by the similarity of it to my car.

For me the whole point of using a 2cv as daily transport is to inject a little fun into the daily routine, so in between fending off middle aged women I'm always thinking of new ideas, or different ways to add a bit of character to the car without going OTT.

What I'd like to do is find myself a period style roof rack to go with the 1960's theme of the car. Some may frown at this, considering it to be too near the Snail forum/VW type 'scene' as in the illustration below, but hey, it's a bit of fun, it's practical, and it's removable if I get bored of it. Given the prices that they are fetching though this may remain on my wish list for some time!

Nice little write-up there, Old-Nail I would seriously consider the use of a roof-rack though, if I was you. The only one that fits right, is the Citroen original and it has an appetite for paint

I've also noticed the lady-attracting powers of a 2cv. Since owning a tin snail I have even been able to dispense with the services of Hai Karate aftershave when wishing to impress women.

As regards additions for your car: Boot rack? Like the one on this car:
(I find the wicker basket a bit too cutesy for my liking, but chacun a son goute, as they say...)

Always been a bit of a sucker for foglights, too.

Roof racks look cool & certainly have their uses, but they are so frickin' noisy!

Apologies if someone's asked already, but what meetings have you planned for the car?

I'm not too keen on boot racks, but I think roof racks look cool on the right car - and I think yours could well be a right car!

If I can find a decent old style roof rack then I'll give it a go for a while, I'm sure I can come up with a bit of inner tube or something to stop the paint damage and the additional noise might help drown out the driving instructions from the Mrs.

Bertie I haven't anything planned for definite, other than attend a local classic car show in a couple of weeks time. Plans and me don't go together very well, a bit like rules really. There's a chance I'll be at the national though, just for the day, or perhaps an unintended overnight stay if I get too near the beer tent.

Edit: Don't like boot racks though, and the boot lid can't hold any weight from what I can see.
I saw a bloke making them the other day using strips of stained wood and some modified towel rails from B&Q. If I can teach myself to bend pipes with a plumbers coil then I might have a go at building a retro roof rack.

Old-nail you have to go to register day so we can all vote for your car it deserves an award for all the hard work!

Agreed^^ seen as betty wont be there